Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Nursery Friends from France

Ah, yes... the new year is upon us... I will close it out with this pick and not say too much to distract from the moment. This wonderful big book is illustrated by the supremely talented Petersham gang and is a toast to all things French in the nursery rhyme department. From the foreword...

These little chansons, which take the place of nursery rhymes in France, have been beloved by generations of French children, for most of them are at least a hundred years old. They come to America, bearing the lively, varied rhythms, now gay and bounding in merriment, now sweet and tender, which can well up from no single writer, but only from the hearts of a whole people. There is more of the real France in the rhymes than in volumes of more learned books.

Lovely, lovely, lovely. That said, have a very happy new year, and I'll see you kids on Monday. Cheers.